schefbauer



(NoModeL) v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. R. SGHEPBAUER.

ELECTRIC ARG LAMP.

No. 555,521. P 5511555 Mar.3,18 96.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

R. SGHEFBAUER. ELECTRIC ARC LAMP.

.No 555,621. Patented Mar. 3, 1896.

" illlllllllllll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUPERT SOHEFBAUER, OF HOBOKEN, NElV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE AUERBAOH-VOOLVERTON ELECTRIC COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

ELECTRIC-ARC LAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 555,621, dated March 3, 1896.

Application filed August 8, 1895.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RUPERT SCHEFBAUER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hoboken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Are Lamps, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to simplify the mechanism made use of in feeding the carbons and in drawing the are so that the parts will be less liable to become deranged or worn out than in the lamps of this character heretofore constructed.

I use a fiy-wheel that is connected by a ratchet and pawl. to a shaft with pinions that are rotated in the movement of the carbons, and the electromagnet that is in the mainline circuit acts in a peculiar way by a clamp upon the fly-wheel in drawing the electric arc, and when the carbons are moved to a certain point as they are consumed the current is short-circuited through a resistance corresponding, or nearly so, to the resistance of the carbons and are in the lamp, and in case of a carbon breaking the current is automatioally switched through a shunt, so that the current on the line is not interrupted; but when the circuit through the carbons is restored the shunt circuit is automatically broken.

111 the drawings, Figure 1 is an elevation, partially in section, of my improved lamp. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the switch made use of in turning the current on and off from the lamp. Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view below the line 00 a: of Fig. 1, and Fig. 4: is a detached view of the lever, fiy-wheel, and clamp.

The top plate, A, and bottom plate, 13, are connected by the columns 0, and usually there are arms 13 extending out laterally, and to which the glass or globe of the lamp is connected at one edge by the hinge 4 and at the other edge by a clasp or hook 5, these parts being of usual construction.

Upon the top of the lamp there is advantageously a crown A, and the central support D allows forthe lamp to be hung in any desired manner. Upon the top plate, A,is a flat ring E, of insulating material, and the binding-posts F and G are fastened to this ring, and they are provided with the folded Serial No. 558,603. (No model.)

metal clips 0 and 7, and there are adjacent to these the folded metal clips 8, 9, 10 and 11, and around the stem of the central support D is a disk of insulating material H, with a handle H extending out through an opening in the upper part or crown of the top plate,A, and connected with this disk are two insulated contact-plates 12 and 13, which contact-plates are suiliciently long to extend between either two of the metal clips before mentioned, and when turned in one direction they make con tact between 6 and 11 and 7 and 8, and when turned in the other direction they make contact between 6 and 10 and 7 and 9.

The clip 11 is connected with the clip 8 by a segmental plate or wire 14, so that when the handle H is turned so as to make contact between 6 and 11 and 7 and 8 the lamp is entirely cut out and the line closed through the segmental plate or wire 14, and when the handle is turned so that the contact-plates 12 and 13 close the circuit between 6 and 10 and 7 and 9 the lamp is brought into the circuit, as hereinafter described.

The main-line magnet I is preferably connected with the top plate, A, and the shuntmagnet K is similarly connected, and their cores 15 and 16 are connected to the opposite ends of the rocking lever L, which has the cross-shaft N for its pivot, the ends of the cross-shaft bein gin bearings upon the column 0, and the carbon-holders O and P are represented as arms swinging upon the pivot Q, and the carbon-holding arms, whether sliding or swinging, are adapted to receive carbons of any suitable character, as my present invention is not necessarily limited to any particular character of carbon-holders, and the carbon-holders are respectively provided with the racks 0 and P, which act at opposite sides of the pinions 17 and 18 upon the crossshaft N, and there is upon this cross-shaft N a loose fly-wheel R carrying a pawl which engages a ratchet-wheel S, which is fixed upon such cross-shaft N.

It is advantageous to make the rocking lever L in the form of spring-arms connected at their ends with the cores 15 and 16, respectively, so that in case an alternating current passes through the lamp, the spring ends to the rocking lever may vibrate with any vibrations of the magnetism without communicating such vibrations to the carbonholding arms, and one end of the lever is connected to the piston in a dash-pot T to lessen the risk of vibration.

Upon the lever L a link U is pivoted at 19, and its outer end is pivoted to the frictionclamp V, and the pivotal connection is near a finger on the rocking lever Ti, and in consequence of the pivot 19 being above the crossshaft N and the finger being on the lower part of the rocking lever L the clamp V is made to bind against the fly-wheel as this end of the rocking lever L is raised, and such clamp is released from the fly-wheel as the rocking lever L is moved downwardly by the link U resting on the stop U and thereby swinging the clamp away from the fly-wheel as this end of the lever L is moved downwardly.

The spring L serves to move the link U and bring the clamp against the fly-wheel to clamp the same as this end of the lever is drawn up, and it is advantageous to have a clamp-block that is heavy and acts in the same direction as the spring, and by applying a piece of soft leather to the surface of the clamp that acts on the fly-wheel the friction is gradually increased or lessened to avoid a sudden movement of the parts,

\Vhen segmental racks and swinging carbon-holders are made use of with this lamp, it is advantageous to employ a contractile spring \V to tend to bring the carbons toward each other, and it will be observed that when the carbons are separated for insertinga fresh carbon the direction of movement is such that the ratchet-wheel S is rotated freely beneath the end of the pawl 21, and when the carbons approach each other the ratchet -wheel is turned by the pawl, and should either carbon break and the fly-wheel be suddenly rotated the fly-wheel may continue to revolve after the carbons touch each other without injury to any of the parts, and as soon as the current is restored to the main-line magnet I it acts through its core 15 to raise this end of the rocking lever L, and in so doing the clamp V engages the edge of the fly-wheel and in turning the same draws the are by the action of the pawl upon the ratchet-wheel S, which rotates the cross-shaft N and by the pinions 17 and 18 separates the carbons sufliciently to draw the electric arc.

The current enters the lamp through the metal clip 10 and passes to the binding-post 22, thence through the main-line magnet I to the carbon-holder O, and thence through the other carbon-holder and wire 23 to the switchmagnet Y, and from thence to the bindingpost 2i that is connected with the clip-plate J, and there is a branch from this bindingpost 24: through the shunt-magnet K and branch wire 25 to the carbon-holder 0, so that this shunt-magnet K, acting upon the opposite end of the rocking leverL to the magnet I, serves to regulate the are with great accuracy, as usual in electric lamps having shunt-magnets.

The armature 20 of the switch-magnet Y has an insulated backstop 27, which is in a circuit through the wire 2S to the rheostat 2i) and binding'post Q-l, and the yoke of the mag net Y is insulated and the binding-post is upon the same, so that in cases where the main circuit is interrupted by the breaking of a carbon or otherwise the switch-magnet Y is demagnetized, and its armature falling away closes the shunt-circuit from the clip '1 0 through 22, 27, and 28 and the rheostat 29 to the clip 9, thus maintaining the current upon the line through the rheostat 20, and as soon as the current is reestablished between the carbons through the magnet Y the armature is attracted and the current broken at the back-stop 27 and the lamp restored to its working condition, the main-line and shunt magnets acting to regulate the are.

I make use of a wire 30 from the bindingpost 22 to a contact 31, beneath which a spring-switch 32, the other end of which is connected to the binding-post of the rhcostat, and there is upon one of the columns 0 a tumbler 33, acted upon by a pin 3i upon one arm of the carbon-holder P, and this tumbler is made with two flat portions at different distances from the axis of the tumbler, so that when the carbons come together to a definite point the tumbler 33 is turned and contact made between the springswitch 232 and the contact 31, thereby short-cireuiting the current and preventing the same passing through the carbons, and as soon as the carbons are moved apart for the insertion of fresh carbons the pin turns the tumbler 33 and breaks the circuit between 31 and 332. This device is substantially similar to that shown in my application, Serial No. 5l0,(i( 5, except that the tumbler itself is of insulating material, so that its pivot does not require to be insulated.

It will be observed that this lamp is very simple and easily made and there are no parts that are liable to get out of order, and it is very safe for attendants to make use of, because the current is turned entirely off at the lamp when the lever-handle I1 is moved to direct the current through the segmental plate 14.

In switches that have heretofore been made for turning on and off the current from the electric lamp it has been usual to employ four stationary contacts and two moving contacts lapping sufficiently upon the stationary con tacts to close the line-circuit before breaking the lamp-circuit, and to close the lamp-circuit before breaking the circuit between the binding-post of the line.

By the present improvement, in which there are six stationary contacts, two of which are connected together, the operations are much more reliable, because the moving plates travel between the folded metallic strips that form the stationary contacts. Hence there is a rubbing action of two places on each clip where the contact is made, and the possibility of a spark is prevented, because the moving contact-plates are insulated from each other and the stationary contacts are supported by insulating material, and the lamp-terminals are closely adjacent to the line-terminals and the short-circuiting terminals are closely adjacent to the line-terminals, but at the opposite sides to the lamp-terminals. Hence the connection and disconnection of the lamp in the circuit are reliably effected and with a comparatively short movement of the handle of the switch.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination with the carbon-holders and racks that are moved by the same, of a cross-shaft and pinions acted upon by the racks, a ratchet-Wheel upon the cross-shaft, a loose fiy-wheel, a pawl engaging the ratchetwheel, a magnet in the main circuit through the lamp, a lever acted upon by the same and a clamp to engage the fly-wheel and draw the are, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination with the carbon-holders, of a cross-shaft and pinions, racks connected with the carbon-holders and acting on the pinions, a magnet in the main circuit, a rocking lever having a thin spring end and a connection from the same to the core of the magnet for lessening vibrations from alternate currents in the action of the main-line magnet upon the carbon in drawing the are, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination with the carbon-holders and their racks, of a cross-shaft and pinions acted upon by the racks, a ratchet-wheel, a fly-wheel and pawl loose upon the shaft, a magnet in the main line, a rocking lever connected to the core of the main-line magnet and a clamp acting upon the fly-wheel to draw the are, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with the carbon-holders and their racks, of a cross-shaft and pinions acted upon by the racks, a ratchet-wheel, a fly-wheel and pawl loose upon the shaft, a magnet in the main line, a rocking lever connected to the core of the main-line magnet, a clamp and a link acting upon the clamp to move the fly-wheel and draw the arc, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination with the main-line bindin g-posts, of folded metal clips, contact-plates between such metal clips, a disk and handle carrying such contact-plates, folded metal clips and an insulated segmental plate connecting two of the metal clips for short-circuiting the lamp, the other metal clips being connected to the electric circuit passing through the lamp, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination with the carbon-holders and their racks, of pinions moved by the racks, a shaft and fly-wheel, a rocking lever swinging on the shaft of the fly-wheel and an electromagnet with a core connected to the rocking lever to draw the are, a clamp and a link carrying the clamp and pivoted to the rocking lever above its axis of motion, and a fixed stop for separating the clamp from the fiy-wheel to allow the same to partially revolve as the carbons approach each other, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination in an electric-arc lamp with the carbon-holders and racks, of an electromagnet acting to draw the are, a rheostat and a spring-switch in a shunt between the binding-posts, a pivoted tumbler of non-conducting material having two fiat faces at dif ferent distances from the pivot, and a pin moved by one of the carbon-holders to shift the tumbler from one position to the other and open or close the shunt-circuit, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination with the binding-posts for the main-line wires in an electric-arc lamp, of stationary metal clips connected with the binding-posts, two adjacent stationary insulated clips and connections to the arc lamp, and two stationary insulated clips at the opposite sides of the binding-post clips and connected together and pivoted insulated contact-pieces and a handle for moving the same for connecting the lamp to the line conductors or for cutting out the lamp by the connected clips, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 6th day of August, 1895.

RUPERT SOHEFBAUER.

\Vitnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, WILLIAM G. Morr. 

